On November 1, 2011, at 05:58 local time, the Chinese spaceship Shenzhou-8 was launched for a 17-day missionwith a Long March rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Mongolia desert. On board was the GermanSIMBOX (Science in Microgravity Box) experimental facility containing 17 bio-medical experiments, whichwere conducted by German researchers together with their Chinese colleagues. It was the first time that China cooperatedwith another nation in the scientific utilization of Shenzhou – the core element of China's human spaceflightprogramme.The German Aerospace Center's (DLR) Space Administration was responsible for the entire SIMBOX hardwaredevelopment and the project management of the German part of the mission on behalf of the Federal Ministry ofEconomics and Technology (BMWi). DLR's partner in this cooperation was the China Manned Space EngineeringOffice (CMSEO) which took charge of the accommodation of SIMBOX on Shenzhou-8 and the overall mission.During the flight, plants, threadworms, snails, bacteria, and human cancer, thyroid and immune cells were exposed toweightlessness and cosmic radiation of space. Scientists used these special conditions prevailing in space as a tool totackle fundamental biological and medical questions that also play an important role on the Earth. For example, researchersfrom the Universities of Erlangen and Wuhan performed joint studies on a mini ecosystem with snails andalgae. The SIMBOX facility accommodated a total of 44 experimental units developed by Astrium Space Transportation,each approximately the size of a smartphone and specifically designed according the requirements of the scientists.Some of the experimental units were placed in a centrifuge producing Earth-like gravity for reference purposes.In the evening of November 17, Shenzhou-8 landed on schedule in the Chinese part of the Gobi Desert inInner Mongolia, completing a successful 17-day mission. Within a few hours SIMBOX was retrieved and transportedback to Beijing where the specimens were handed over to the scientists for evaluation in their home laboratories.The flight of Shenzhou-8 and the successful rendezvous and docking with Tiangong-1 represents a milestone inChina's way towards an own space station, which is expected to be fully operational by 2020. SIMBOX on Shenzhou-8 has opened up a completely new partnership in human spaceflight for Germany and was a first step towardsan international research in space utilizing China's manned space programme.
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